At Student Council’s Tuesday meeting, Aramark District Marketing Manager Nicole Jackson and Aramark Director of Operations Matt Smythe presented on the current state and future plans for University Dining.
Jackson and Smythe’s presentation detailed new features coming to University Dining this year, including an expansion of the meal exchange plan to include Einstein Bros. Bagels in Rice Hall in the mornings.
University Dining will also be adding delivery service from Marco & Luca Dumpling Store on the Corner in the near future.
“We are really really close to signing them on,” Jackson said of Marco & Luca.
She also emphasized the University's desire to listen to and accommodate student feedback as much as possible.
Smythe explained the areas in which the University hopes to improve the student dining experience this year, including staff development, food quality and student engagement.
He said these areas of focus were based on large surveys of the student body.
“We do two surveys that are all-encompassing dining surveys — once per semester — and we get about 1500 responses for each,” Smythe said.
Currently, students rank University Dining 5.5 out of a possible 7, but Smythe said he and the rest of the staff are dedicated to improving that rating, despite some occasional mistakes.
“With an operation this big, we are going to mess up,” he said. “But when we do, we are committed to making it better.”
He listed specific examples of efforts being made to improve each stated area of focus, including a 1000-hour training program for culinary development given to dining staff over the summer.
Also in the plans for dining improvements are renovations to Runk Dining Room and The Castle at Bonnycastle Residence Hall. According to the presentation, Runk will be renovated during the 2017-18 school year, and The Castle will be renovated during the 2018-19 school year.
The plans for renovations in both areas are focused on comfort and convenience. Thirty percent of the seating in Runk will be upgraded into more comfortable benches and chairs, while The Castle will be entirely redesigned with more comfortable seating and a digital ordering system.
“The Castle will turn into essentially a living room,” Smythe said, with “collaborative and comfortable spaces” for hanging out.
Following the presentation, several Student Council members raised questions and student concerns regarding dining.
College Representative Brian Kelley, a third-year student, suggested a smaller meal plan option for upperclassmen who want to eat some but not all meals on Grounds at dining halls.
“It’s either buy everything or buy nothing,” Kelley said of the current meal plan options.
Student Council President Emily Lodge, a fourth-year Batten student, suggested a meal plan with only 25 meals for the semester — rather than the current smallest meal plan, which offers 50 per semester. Brett Curtis, third-year Curry student and representative body chair, suggested internal polling to see if a Semester 25 meal plan would be a popular option.
After the presentation on dining, Student Council discussed student concerns that had been communicated to them by email and through Speak Up U.Va. — an anonymous online forum for University feedback.
Curtis also announced plans for outreach that came from a meeting of the Representative Body earlier in the week. He said Student Council members will begin holding office hours and pop-up hours around Grounds to hear student concerns, inform students on Student Council activities and conduct polling regarding the Strategic Investment Fund.
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